Is Your Diet Eating Your Brain?

A new study has found that the brains of starved mice shrink the longer they go without food—because their own bodies start consuming them. The process is called "autophagy," meaning "self-eat," and fittingly sounds like the title of some French horror movie that you can't change the channel on because whatever you imagine will be worse than what appears onscreen. This study published in the journal Cell Metabolism suggests that stupid diets could lead to further stupidity in humans.

But wait—before you go reaching for a Snickers bar, rest assured that your body isn't going to attack your brain at the first sign of hunger. It will go for your delicious fatty reserves and such first. Plus, as the Los Angeles Times reports, being overweight (and middle-aged) also leads to brain shrinkage.

So, really, the lesson here is be terrified. We kid. No, the takeaway should be that extreme behavior could be bad for you in ways you don't immediately realize. And perhaps you never will, if you're on some stupid diet. A brighter idea: If you're trying to lose some weight or just cut down on your junk food, try to think of food as fuel (not a decadent luxury, not a crime): You simply need it, and a variety of it, to be healthy.